


Take Me Home Tonight (or, The End-of-Days Conundrum)

by alltheregrets (Huffleton_Puffleton)



Series: The Difference Between Love and Imprinting [2]
Category: Twilight Series - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Imprinting
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-13
Updated: 2015-02-27
Packaged: 2018-03-01 07:47:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2765312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Huffleton_Puffleton/pseuds/alltheregrets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Andy doesn't buy the can't-live-without-you shtick. Isn't it more romantic when someone chooses to be with you, even when they don't have to? How will she react to Collin imprinting on her? Eh, she's probably too busy trying to prevent World War 3.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> So, since I just posted the first story, I thought I'd get started on this one. It follows the same timeline, and connects to the first story.  
> Edit: I changed stuff!

See the girl with the crazy, dark birds’ nest hair and the too-big nose sitting towards the back of the lecture hall? That’s me: Andy Stefanopolis. Notice how I peer around taller people, and through the lens of my glasses that probably need adjusting. I’m not moving closer to the front though, because no way in hell I’d risk getting called on.

Now, see the beautiful sex god sitting a few rows down? The tall, buff one with the russet skin and the handsome-features-that-are-also-somehow-adorable? That’s the love of my college life: Collin Littlesea. Dammit, even his surname is endearing. I wonder what sort of crime my ancestor did for the gods to punish me like this. I bet it involved too much wine. Notice how he _doesn’t_ notice the frumpy girl in the back.

And that’s basically how time passes in my Intro to Asian History class. Don’t get me wrong, I love history! I can’t memorize the finer details to save my life, but I love the stories. It’s crazy how these ridiculous things happened in real life. I mean, remember when the white colonizers chopped off all the noses on the Egyptian statues and stuff so people wouldn’t realize such an advanced culture was (Horror of Horrors!) _not white_?Or that time when Einstein wrote Marie Curie a letter telling her to forget the haters?

My point is: I took this class because I’m basically Undecided personified, when it comes to declaring a major, but I thought this would be interesting. And on the first day, in saunters Collin Littlesea, and I’m suddenly remembering that line from Shakespeare about wanting to be a glove on his hand so I can touch his cheek, because I’m watching him rest his chin on his palm while Professor Valdez continues on, enthusiastic, but oblivious. I don’t do crushes very well.

This is where my college best friend and roommate comes in: Ollie O’Connell. That’s short for Pollyanna, which she hates. She’s the only one who knows about my ridiculous baby crush. She’s also the only one I can drag to parties, because freshman year, right?! It’s the year of change…new beginnings…finding yourself? Ollie calls me cheesy and trite, but I think part of her is really glad I drag her to these parties, which, incidentally, is how this all starts.

* * *

 

Okay, that was a lie. I'm sorry, it all starts with my grandma dying right before I graduated high school. It's okay, we weren't close. She was the Headmistress at some all-girls school in New England, where she raised me and Ollie. She never got very involved. I never knew what was really happening. I never found out why she rarely spent time with me, until shit hit the fan. To be fair, I  _did_ think it was so no one would accuse her of nepotism, but  _nope_ , she just didn't want to deal with the imminent trouble I didn't know was following me since birth.

 


	2. Phi Upsilon Kappa, Phonetically, That Is

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The way to a man's heart is through your stomach. And if a dream is a wish your heart makes, then my heart must be really messed up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those who haven't read the previous story in the series, Jen Castillo is the previous fic's protagonist. Also, you don't have to read the previous fic to understand this one. It's just that, like for this chapter, I might make some reference to past events/characters, but I promise I'll explain if it's important :)

Long story short, spring break was long over, but I wasn't quite done yet.

“AW, HELLS YEAH,” I shouted over the music when I saw someone climb over the pool table, presumably to dance. Now, if you’d asked me at the time where we were, I probably couldn’t have answered you. Getting passed out drunk at a frat party was something I’d always believed to be an integral part of the college experience. I know, stupid freshman.

“Oh, hell no,” said Ollie, trying to drag me away and sending drunk me tumbling backwards.

“Whoa, you alright?” said the person who’d caught me, but I only jumped right back up, intent to escape to the top of the pool table.

“Andy! No!” Ollie called.

“Come with me! You’re drunk!” I called back at her.

“Not as drunk as you,” she argued, “Now come on, I gotta get you back before shit happens.”

“I’m not drunk, Ollie; I’m just having fun!” I cried, trying to fight her off. Unfortunately, Ollie’d always been the stronger one. Next thing I knew, I was tumbling forward, and...

“Shit!”

“I’m so sorry!” I could feel the tears coming to my eyes. For as long as I can remember, puking has always made me tear up. “Oh, my God,” I whimpered pathetically as everyone around us whooped and laughed. They _actually_ whipped their phones out to take pictures. Thankfully, before anyone realized to take photos, Ollie’d already pulled me way.

“Wait, I need to…” I mumbled, turning back to the scene, where people had already forgotten about me and the guy I just puked on, and were just trying to avoid the mess I’d made. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” I repeated, trying to apologize as Ollie led me away.

“It’s alright, I dodged,” said the guy I thought I’d puked on. He turned around then, and I basically died, because yep, you guessed it. I projectile vomited in front of the love of my life, and if he didn’t have superhuman reflexes, he would’ve been covered in that evening’s dinner.

“Ah, shit! Ah, shit!” apparently, drunk-me had no shame, because: “You! You of all fucking people!”

“Alright, time to go, Andy,” Ollie, my eternal savior.

“Hey! Hey, hold on,” Collin Littlesea began, following us to the front of the house. “Uh, Andy, right? I’m Collin…Littlesea,” he stuck his hand out for me to shake.

“I know,” I rolled my eyes as Ollie and I continued walking, but Collin only followed.

“You do?”

“We have the…uh…tha-…asian history class together,” I grumbled.

“Oh…I’m sorry, I didn’t-“

“-Recognize me, ‘course,” I tried to sit on the pavement, only for Ollie to pull me right back up. By that time, I was more than ready to head home.

“Hey, it’s getting late. Where do you guys live? I’ll walk you,” Collin offered.

“Hm, sketchy offer, no, thanks,” Ollie said.

“Come on, you can’t drag her behind you all night, and I promise you, I’m not some pervert,” he raised his hands up in surrender. Ollie stopped walking. It was true. I was mostly relying on her just to stay upright. She let me sit on the pavement for a moment, and I sank down gratefully.

“See this?” she held up what looked like a small flashlight. “This is a taser. One wrong move and I won’t hesitate,” she warned him.

“Alright,” Collin laughed. At the time, we had no idea tasers had no effect on him, “so, you’ll let me help?”

“Yeah, here,” she hefted me onto Collin’s back, and had I been more than half conscious, I still would’ve passed out just from sheer joy. “We rent this place with a bunch of other students. It’s kind of far.”

“I’ll make it,” he assured us.

“Ollie, I feel like crap,” I whimpered pathetically, something I apparently did a lot when drunk.

“I got you,” Collin replied in her stead, adjusting my position on his back. I buried my face in his neck, trying to avoid the too-bright neon and fluorescent lights. I thought I could feel his pulse thumping hard and fast, but it could’ve been mine. His warmth lulled me to sleep, which was just what I was avoiding that night.

* * *

 

“Andy, hey, wake up. It’s alright. You’re fine,” I woke up to Ollie’s soothing voice. Sunlight filtered through the room we shared, even though the thin drapes were pulled shut, and my first thought was how much of an idiot I was the night before.

“Shit…”

“Do you remember your dream?” she asked.

“What? No, it’s not that…” then I realized my cheeks were damp. I’d been crying in my sleep…again. I wiped my face with the back of my hand hastily, as if it would take back whatever dream I’d had.

“What is it?” Ollie sat at the end of my bed. She must’ve been at least a little hungover too, but ever the loyal friend, she woke me up from that nightmare.

“No, I just remembered last night. God, I fucked up,” I rubbed my temples.

“Yeah,” Ollie chuckled. “But what about that dream? You were crying again. It sounded pretty bad.”

“I can’t remember, as usual,” I sighed. “Hold on,” we sat in silence as I tried to recall. This happened a disturbing amount of times.

As a kid, as far as I knew, I’d never been able to remember my dreams. But, as a kid, I also hadn’t woken up screaming and/or crying. It was a recent phenomenon, and by recent, I mean around high school. And even then, I’d still have trouble remembering what about my dreams made me react that way. And then, soon after starting college, I started remembering my dreams, or at least, parts of them. They were getting more vivid, and I didn’t notice it just that morning, but my ability to remember my dreams was improving.

“Oh, Ollie,” I gasped as I recalled bits and pieces of my dream.

“What? What?” she leaned closer.

“It was horrible,” I looked up at her, “I mean, people were dying! It was horrible!”

“What do you mean? Another zombie apocalypse dream?”

“No,” I tried to put what I remembered into words. “It was weird, but yeah, people were killing each other, and there were people I couldn’t recognize, but there were some familiar people,” I babbled, trying to work through my hangover.

“…was I in it?” for some reason I couldn’t understand then, she sounded hesitant to ask.

“Yeah,” I shrugged. I’d heard that people dream of faces they’ve seen before, or things related to the day they had before sleeping.

“What happened? Did a zombie eat my face off?” she laughed.

“Nah, I don’t know,” I laughed too. “I mean, we were travelling, so maybe we were escaping the end of the world or something, like in disaster movies?”

“Oh, _obviously_ ,” Ollie teased.

“Yeah, and uh…ugh, it’s gross, but Collin was in it, too,” I screwed my face up. That night was it. I would never speak to him ever again, and I could barely even remember the first time I did. Why did I have to vomit in front of him, of all people, last night?

“What happened?” Ollie perked up. I, gratefully, noticed how she missed slipping in a green joke or two there.

“Uh, I don’t know. It’s all vague. I just remember seeing his face a lot, but whatever. I mean, after last night, of _course_ I’d dream about him. I mean, if seeing him thrice a week in class makes me dream of him almost _every_ night, then…” I shrugged.

“Wait, _every night_?” her eyes widened, and I remembered I hadn’t told her that. I mean, it was embarrassing!

“Yeah! I mean, I like the guy, so what do you expect!” I tried to save face.

“Heh, yeah, that’s probably it,” she chuckled.

“Duh,” I said, nudging her. I could just feel how red my face must’ve been. I mean, those weren’t dirty dreams or anything! He just happened to be in them.

“Okay, well, just tell me if you remember anything else,” Ollie said, getting back to bed, presumably to escape her little baby hangover.

“You know, Jen told me the other day that friends aren’t usually as involved with their friends’ weird dreams,” I teased Ollie. Jen Castillo was an upperclassman I’d befriended through the special education organization I joined on campus. We had a shared preference for the logistics committee, which most other members actually tried to avoid.

“Yeah, well, I’m your _best_ friend, fool,” Ollie laughed, settling back to bed.

“Alright, well, I’m definitely _not_ going back to sleep, so...sweet dreams,” I got up and decided a good shower and some greasy food would be the perfect hangover cure.

* * *

 

_A Few Days Later…_

“Andy! Hey!”

“ _Fuck_ ,” I’d been trying to avoid this, though honestly, I never thought he’d even remember me.

“Hi,” he intercepted me on my way out of the lecture hall.

“Hey…” I managed to reply.

“Collin…Littlesea? Remember?”

“Yeah, I think we’ve established that I know who you are,” I sighed, face twisting into a pained smile.

“Oh, yeah…” he just kept staring! And we just kept standing there like a pair of idiots.

“So…I have to go…” I didn’t, really, but I wasn’t about to keep standing there, especially with him hovering over me, fidgeting, and making me heat up in embarrassment and awkwardness.

“Sorry, uh, hey, can we hangout some time?” and, I kid you not, my heart literally skipped a beat.

“Um, like…a friend…hangout…thing? Or, like a…” I couldn’t even say the damn word.

“Like a date,” he clarified, clearly pleased with himself.

“You sure you wanna risk that, after last night?” I laughed. What can I say? I learned early on to just laugh at myself whenever I got hurt or felt embarrassed. Joking around is my only coping mechanism.

“I’m going to do my best to keep you away from any alcohol,” he teased.

“Okay, I’ll take you up on that,” I nodded, trying to keep myself from smiling too wide and freaking the poor boy out.

“Let’s exchange numbers,” he handed me his phone, and I complied.  

 “Well, if I only knew the way to a man’s heart was through emptying _my_ stomach!” I handed him back his phone.

“Oh yeah, we men find that _incredibly_ attractive,” he laughed. “Well, I’ll call you.”

“Alright,” I nodded, “See you around, then.” _Ollie will never believe this._

* * *

 

_Meanwhile…_

“Pollyanna O’Connell?”

“Ollie. Who’re you?” Ollie had been checking out some books at the nearest bookstore.

 “Brady Fuller. I go to UW. I’m friends with Collin Littlesea?,” the imposing guy came up beside her, pretending to flip through one of the novels.

“Hi, did you want something?” she looked up at him.

“Okay, I _really_ don’t know how to ask this,” he sighed.

“What?”

“Are you…” he paused, trying to brace himself for the possible embarrassing conclusion to his question.  “ _God, this is so stupid_ ,” he whispered to himself.  “Are you human?” Ollie only blinked back. After a pause, she bent double, holding in her laughter.

“What the fuck, dude? Are you alright?” she asked him between giggles.

“Oh, God,” Brady buried his face in his hands. “Forget it. Just forget we even met today,” he gestured as though erasing what just happened.

“Okay, man, whatever,” Ollie shrugged, still grinning.

“Okay, yeah…bye,” and with that, Brady Fuller left her at the sci-fi section and exited the bookstore.

Ollie waited a few minutes, going through other shelves and sections. Finally, she pulled her phone out of her pocket, and called someone.

“Hey!” she greeted cheerily as whoever she was calling picked up. “Andy, did you happen to, like, bump into Collin Littlesea today…or…recently, or something?” she pursed her lips, listening to her friend.

“Whoa, really? What did you say?” she nodded, then remembered they were talking on the phone. “Wow, yeah! Congrats! That’s awesome! Listen, I gotta go, just…tell me everything later, okay? Yeah, bye!” Ollie ended the call and pocketed her phone. She frowned up at the ceiling and groaned in frustration and annoyance.

“ _Fuck_ , I knew that guy was trouble.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave kudos and feedback :) Comments will be super helpful, thanks!

**Author's Note:**

> Unlike the other one, this story hasn't been written yet. So, if you'd like to read more, please leave comments/kudos for encouragement! (Constructive criticism would be good too!) :)


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